Add Google Analytics to WordPress

So much has changed in the way business is done and viewed of since the internet and numerous internet-based technologies were introduced. And a fact is that a lot of entrepreneurs and marketers are doing very well with the help of the internet, whether the business maybe online or an ordinary company having a website for customer attraction.

Marketing certainly plays a very vital role in operating a business and this is one business aspect that entrepreneurs cannot afford to ignore. Marketing a company’s products or services does not end with creating advertisements or creating a website. But this doesn’t mean you also stop with just the creation of the website and having it up live.

Operating a website provides a very good opportunity and gateway for entrepreneurs to monitor how their products or services appeal to the general public, most specifically people who visit their websites. It enables entrepreneurs to check and analyze everything that goes on in the website and use this information to come up with ideas to improve or generate solutions for weak points that they could point out. This is all made possible by website statistic options available online.

For this very specific purpose, Google Analytics would be the best choice for any website operator or owner. It is one of the most efficient and effective website statistics services available on the net. The best part is that it doesn’t cost a thing. It’s completely free. It allows you to monitor and track the activities on your website and analyze this information in order to find ways on how to increase traffic and gain more customers. You can check the number of visits by the day of the week, the time period, the page view, bounce rates, the sources of traffic, the location of visitors and a whole lot of valuable information.

First things first, you have to sign up with Google Analytics. Make sure to use a Google account. If you do not have one, sign up for one and use this information for Google Analytics. Then go to the Analytics page of Google and click on Access Analytics. If you already have an account, you will be redirected to your Overview page. If you do not have a website registered yet, you should create one. Make sure to provide all necessary details required for the registration especially the URL. This information will be necessary for the monitoring and tracking of the WordPress site you will be registering. After filling up the necessary information, click on yes after reading and agreeing to the Google Analytics Terms and Services.

This will then take you to your tracking code information, which you will need to copy and paste for reference purposes. There are two kinds of tracking codes provided: urchin.js script which is used for older versions of WordPress and the new ga.js script which is used for the updated WordPress. Also take note of all the instructions available in the same page.

For an existing Google Analytics user, from the Overview page you can access your profile and copy your tracking code by going to the Action column of the profile and clicking Edit. At the top right of the ‘Main Website Profile Information’ box, click Check Status. You can view and copy your tracking code from here and view theInstructions for adding tracking to your WordPress.

Now you’ll have to download a zip file for the Google Analytics plugin. The plugin is set up to automatically ignore authors that are logged in, and track special events that may occur on your pages, including newsletter subscriptions and also allows you to easily add Google’s web tracking script to your site.

This could be downloaded through WordPress.org where all you’ll need is the Analytics Account Id which is embedded in the tracking code. You could also get this through a company called Semiologic.com which effectively manages WordPress. You can download it from there and once you check your plug-ins section, you can see that you have a Google Analytics option where you can paste the tracking code.